1. Field of the Invention
This invention lies in the field of drilling of off-shore wells.
More particularly, it concerns the drilling of multiple wells from a floating platform, such as the vertically moored platform, or an anchored drill ship, etc. It is involved with the provision of guide cables between the platform and the subsea carousel, whereby as the carousel is rotated to guide the drilling equipment into one or another of a plurality of well slots in the template, with the use of our invention the cables will always remain in the same azimuth as that of the drill ship.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is represented by the Zaremba U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,011 issued on Nov. 13, 1979, which shows the template structure on the sea floor with a plurality of groups of well slots specially arranged on the template, with means to position a carousel on a guide post in the center of a group of well slots so that it can be rotated successively to be over, and concentric with, each of the well slots. Cable guide means are provided between the carousel and the drill vessel which, under the prior art, would rotate with the carousel and would, therefore, twist with respect to the anchored drill ship or floating platform.